Leagues president on Lawsuits & Maybe Even in the Streets
By Billy Hallowell
The battle over the Obama administrations contraception mandate continues to heat up. On Monday Bill Donohue president of
the Catholic League made some bold proclamations regarding just how hard the Catholic Church plans to fight the governments requirement that religious-affiliated schools and organizations cover contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs.
Never before unprecedented in American history for the federal government to line up against the Roman Catholic Church" said Donohue. This is going to be fought out with lawsuits with court decisions and dare I say it maybe even in the streets."
Here Donohue is calling for Catholics and supporters of religious freedom to join in peaceful protest against the mandate. Similar action (peaceful marches and events) has been taken in New York City where religious groups have converged to fight a local ban on the use of public schools for worship.
Donohue and church leaders no doubt hope to harness the power of the nations 70 million Catholic voters to pressure the president to stop what they see as an attack on religious freedom.
As reported on Monday the Catholic Church has pledged to fight the regulation as fervently as needed to ensure it is overturned. Anthony Picarello general counsel for
the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has called the White Houses information regarding the matter misleading and wrong."
He went on to say that the church plans to "pursue every legal mandate available to them to bring an end to this mandate. That means legislation litigation and public advocacy. All options are on the table."
But liberal Catholics like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Maryland Gov. Martin OMalley disagree with the churchs stance on the mandate and have pledged their public support to the administration. On Sunday OMalley said that there is a little bit too much hyperventilating" over the regulation.
Currently there are two petitions on the White House web site. One entitled Rescind the HHS Dept. Mandate Requiring Catholic Employers to Provide Contraceptives/Abortifacients to Their Employees" stands opposed to the mandate. As of 9 a.m. ET on Tuesday morning there were 23336 signatures (a total of 25000 will require the federal government to comment on the petition within 30 days). The opposing overture that supports the mandate currently has 9296 signatures.
While proponents of the regulation continue to come out in support the angst being created as a result of what many see as an open assault on faith and religion is continuing to intensify.
